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The
last entry for Cottingham in the 1901 Census is the Fendick family. The
manuscript entry is difficult to read, but is along the lines of 'Corby
Road, sleeping on land with steam round - abouts'. Head of the family,
William Fendick, works on his own account as 'proprietor of Steam
House'. As the Fendick's census return was not collected at the same
time as the rest of Corby Road, we can deduce that the steam house was
located further up the road, away from the centre of the village.
I'm
not absolutely sure what this steam house was used for, but it may have housed some
kind of steam-driven engines, powered by coal. Steam-powered engines were
invented at the start of the 18th Century and, by 1900, were widely used
for running machinery, pumping water/draining flood areas, textile
production and even generating electricity.
Is it possible that this
entry refers to the windmill, and that the
windmill was powered by steam for a time?
I'd be really grateful for
any more information about this.
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